conlangfandomcom-20200223-history
Basala
Basa Sama is a language made for 1 reason: to replace Latin and Greek scientific and technological naming. Latin and Greek are only used today, because they were used during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. These languages are natural and were not made to be used internationally, which causes their words and pronunciations to be infuriatingly difficult to those whose languages are unlike them. Basa Sama doesn`t want to be an IAL, like Esperanto; however, I will make it possible to communicate in as a 2nd or 3rd language for those who would like to learn it. I will also show why Basa Sama is better than Latin and Greek by giving an explanation and evidence for every decision I made, when constructing Basa Sama. Phonology Consonants Vowels Why this phonology? This phonology was chosen, because every sound in Basa Sama is found in 67% of languages worldwide ( https://phoible.org/parameters ). This means no /f/, /h/, /r/, /e/, or /o/ like sounds. Those phonemes were, also, not added, because they are difficult for people who`s native language doesn`t have them. Imagine how difficult it is for an English speaker to say /y/, /x/, or /q/. I don`t want Basa Sama to have phonemes that are too challenging to learn. Phonotactics ©V Why ©V? The syllable structure in Basa Sama is ©V, because everyone can do it ( https://typo.uni-konstanz.de/archive/nav/browse.php?number=687 and http://www.linguisticsnetwork.com/the-basics-on-syllabic-structure/ ). I could have chosen a cluster heavy language, like Greek or Latin, but it would be unfair many Austronesian and Australian languages. The consonant is optional, because there is no language that is truly CV, in the truest sense and; therefore, I can leave off a consonant if needed. Syntax Basa Sama`s syntax is purely head final. This is, because the majority of languages by total number of speakers ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers ) are head final. At first you would think that head initial languages would be most common, but no. Out of the 10 most spoken languages Mandarin, Hindi, Bengali, Japanese, Punjabi, and Marathi are head final, while only Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Russian are head initial. SOV word order is even more common than SVO cross linguistically, so a head final language was mandatory. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_order ). Head Final: * SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) * Adjectives before nouns * Postpositions * Possessor before possessee * Verb before auxiliary Grammar Nouns There are no grammatical cases, genders, noun classes, or articles in Basa Sama, because many languages don`t have at least one of these (English- no genders or noun classes, Russian- no noun classes or articles, Mandarin- no cases, genders, noun classes or articles). There are no declensions or conjugations, as well, because many isolating and analytical languages don`t have these (Mandarin and Yoruba are good examples). There ARE compound words, especially in the technological words, the everyday talk; however, does not contain many compounds. All nouns are capitalized, just like in German. Possession To make possession in Basala use the word Mu between the possessor and possessee. Mu means "of". Plurality To make a word plural, all you have to do is use the word Si as a preposition. Si means "many, plural". Math (incomplete) Numbers (Typically numbers will be written like 1, 2, 3; however, when written with the Latin alphabet all numbers end with "h". This is so, when reading, you can differentiate a word like bah Nana "one/first human" from ba Nana "man". It also allows me to make more words, which is much needed, due to the small phonology and ©V syllable structure.) 0- Nah 1- Bah 2- Bih 3- Buh 4- Dah 5- Dih 6- Duh 7- Gah 8- Gih 9- Guh 10- Sah 11- Sabah (10 and 1) 12- Sabih (10 and 2) 13- Sabuh (10 and 3) ... 20- Bisah (2 and 10) 30- Busah (3 and 10) ... 100- Sih 101- Sibah (100 and 1) 102- Sibih (100 and 2) 103- Sibuh (100 and 3) ... 1,000- Suh 10,000- Sasuh (10 and 1,000) 100,000- Sisuh (100 and 1,000) 1,000,000- Lah 10,000,000- Lih 100,000,000- Luh 1,000,000,000- Wah 10,000,000,000- Wih 100,000,000,000- Wuh 1,000,000,000,000- Jah 10,000,000,000,000- Jih 100,000,000,000,000- Juh (Haven`t gotten passed one hundred trillion, yet) Sample numbers 75- Gasah Dih (7 and 10, and 5) 342- Busih Dasah Bih (3 and 100, 4 and 10, and 2) 8,590- Gisuh Disih Gusah (8 and 1,000, 5 and 100, 9 and 10) 24,033- Bisasuh Dasuh Busah Buh (2 and 10 and 1,000, 4 and 1,000, 3 and 10, and 3) 5,000,005- Dilah Dih (5 and 1,000,000, and 5) Ordinal numbers To make a number ordinal: make the number an adjective to the noun. Think of ordinal numbers as "number possession". An example would be: Bah Nana, which means "1 person" or "1st person". Verbs No tenses, aspects, moods, voices, etc. Verbs aren`t even seen as different from nouns. The word Kimi means "nose" and "to smell". To turn a word into a verb, put I after the word. Ex: Bi kimi i Matasa "I smell the flower". Adjectives There are some adjectives, such as Ma "female", Pa "male", and the 6 colours. Colours Kijula- "colour" Kiku- "red, purple, pink" Juwi- "yellow, orange" Lasa- "blue, green" Tuni- "black, dark coloured" Mawi- "white, light coloured" Sala- "brown" Lexicon (Not complete) Pronouns Example text